Both a Chinese tourist eating ice cream from a cup and a Romanian digging from a bag of chips while admiring the sunset over Via Condotti pointed out that there were no signs explaining the new law and asked how were they supposed to know about the rule.

When asked about this complaint, three local policemen patrolling the area told NBC News that there was no need for a sign.

"It's common sense," one officer said, wearing a designer Rolex watch. "You can't dirty such a beautiful and historical monument with ice cream and bread crumbs just because you can sit on it. So we give them a ticket. However, since most of them are foreigners, we offer to take care of the formalities if they simply give us cash in the amount of the ticket. Otherwise, we might have to take them to jail. So far, most people have been quite compliant."

I never set up a table but my friends and I quickly realized that a nice bottle of wine was 5 euros (no excise tax!) and the random people at the Spanish Steps or Piazza Navona were more fun than the denizens of most of the bars and clubs.

If they're going to call the carabinieri on friendly drunk 20 year olds with terrible Italian, that's just awful. People from all over the world putzing around these monuments are a part of the monument.

NexusSix:I never set up a table but my friends and I quickly realized that a nice bottle of wine was 5 euros (no excise tax!) and the random people at the Spanish Steps or Piazza Navona were more fun than the denizens of most of the bars and clubs.

If they're going to call the carabinieri on friendly drunk 20 year olds with terrible Italian, that's just awful. People from all over the world putzing around these monuments are a part of the monument.

"It's common sense," one officer said. "You can't dirty such a beautiful and historical monument with ice cream and bread crumbs just because you can sit on it."

Right, so I can't drop a breadcrumb on them, but walking on them, that's fine? Sounds to me more like the Roman Restauranteur and Cafe Association is bankrolling the mayor. Get people to stop eating on the steps and they'll have to start eating at cafes instead.

Here's how you treat tourists messing things up: you clean it, because a few extra euros spend on cleaning up the crap is much cheaper than driving tourists away by being dicks to them.

whither_apophis:Tax Boy: wallet-stealing gypsies, still permitted at the monuments.

My mom did a tour of Egypt, Israel and Rome with a church group. Rome was the only place they warned about thieves.

/it probably makes up a big part of the economy.

On my last trip to Paris I was warned several times by various hotel staff, restaurant staff, cab drivers, etc about pickpockets. It seemed like everybody had something to say about them. Never had a mention of them in the rest of France, Switzerland, or Germany.

And then, there's the asshole tourists that actively pollute the place (put water bottles on cracks, paint on the walls, that sort of thing), but those days are going away as we become a bit more aware that being an asshole does not pay off, unless you have money or power.

Stupid law, typical of bureaucracies and government out of control with too much power.

Just because something happened once doesn't mean you need to legislate against it.

In addition, they have generic vagrancy and loitering laws. The cops have the power to make those tourists picnicing to move on, without having to have a second, redundant law, against one specific thing which is already covered by the generic law. This law was totally unnecessary.

I have lived most of my life in towns that would be classified as tourist or honeymoon destinations and I have seen this sort of thing first hand on a daily basis during the season. Local merchants as well as the local government have to make a concerted effort to provide trash bins and clean up after the tourists. If tourism is your major industry then it is in your best interests to make the effort to keep things clean and make things nice for the tourists. Selling tourists food and beverages then ticketing them for eating and drinking is, frankly, bull exhaust.

red5ish:thamike: This is a generous representation of a typical aftermath.[imageshack.us image 550x320]

I have lived most of my life in towns that would be classified as tourist or honeymoon destinations and I have seen this sort of thing first hand on a daily basis during the season. Local merchants as well as the local government have to make a concerted effort to provide trash bins and clean up after the tourists. If tourism is your major industry then it is in your best interests to make the effort to keep things clean and make things nice for the tourists. Selling tourists food and beverages then ticketing them for eating and drinking is, frankly, bull exhaust.

Well there's plenty of places you can go which state "no food or drinks". It's called a "sign", or a guide stopping people at the entrance. Hey look at that- pictograms and everything, language-independent.

You don't wait for them to violate an unstated law and then ticket them.

red5ish:thamike: This is a generous representation of a typical aftermath.[imageshack.us image 550x320]

I have lived most of my life in towns that would be classified as tourist or honeymoon destinations and I have seen this sort of thing first hand on a daily basis during the season. Local merchants as well as the local government have to make a concerted effort to provide trash bins and clean up after the tourists. If tourism is your major industry then it is in your best interests to make the effort to keep things clean and make things nice for the tourists. Selling tourists food and beverages then ticketing them for eating and drinking is, frankly, bull exhaust.

Meh, fark Rome. It was the most disappointing part of my trip to Italy. The place had some of the most overpriced, substandard food I had in the country. Actually, just about everything was overpriced, even when in comparison to Florence or Venice. The city is horribly filthy. Some monuments were homes to huge colonies of feral cats and the smell of urine was overpowering. And it is a pain to get around because the subway sucks and street signs are a PITA to see.

I enjoyed the smaller towns like Livorno and Lucca. Awesome food, great prices, smaller crowds.

TheOther:red5ish: thamike: This is a generous representation of a typical aftermath.[imageshack.us image 550x320]

I have lived most of my life in towns that would be classified as tourist or honeymoon destinations and I have seen this sort of thing first hand on a daily basis during the season. Local merchants as well as the local government have to make a concerted effort to provide trash bins and clean up after the tourists. If tourism is your major industry then it is in your best interests to make the effort to keep things clean and make things nice for the tourists. Selling tourists food and beverages then ticketing them for eating and drinking is, frankly, bull exhaust.

I agree but leaving a corpse is a little much, no?

Especially an unreasonable British corpse that wouldn't even fit into the trashcan that is obviously right there in the photo.

thamike:[2.bp.blogspot.com image 850x637]This is possibly the most generous representation of tourist behavior in Rome. [3.bp.blogspot.com image 550x320]This is a generous representation of a typical aftermath.Yes, yes it all sounds draconian, until you have seen it.

Just from looking at the picture in the news story, I agree with this. It looks like a very busy place, not somewhere to plop your fat ass down and dine. Maybe it is hard to find a place to sit down and have a snack, but I bet that 90% of those people didn't need anything to eat anyway.

Just because you bring your money doesn't mean you own the place. I have also lived in a town that was totally tourism based, and most people spread their trash around as freely as their money. After all, they're leaving soon and don't have to worry about it.

red5ish:I have lived most of my life in towns that would be classified as tourist or honeymoon destinations and I have seen this sort of thing first hand on a daily basis during the season.

Rome is having trouble with their tourists who aren't honeymooning or touring as much as fighting and puking. There is litter, then there is how the Brits treat the Spanish Steps. This law is silly, but not because it's draconian. It's silly because, much like the no littering/vandalism laws, it is barely enforceable just from the sheer numbers of overwhelming douchebags.

Dinjiin:Meh, fark Rome. It was the most disappointing part of my trip to Italy. The place had some of the most overpriced, substandard food I had in the country. Actually, just about everything was overpriced, even when in comparison to Florence or Venice. The city is horribly filthy. Some monuments were homes to huge colonies of feral cats and the smell of urine was overpowering. And it is a pain to get around because the subway sucks and street signs are a PITA to see.

I enjoyed the smaller towns like Livorno and Lucca. Awesome food, great prices, smaller crowds.

My rule to judge a tour destination in Europe: how many movies took place there in the late 40s through mid 60s? The more, the worse the city is nowadays for tourism.

Eastern Europe for capital cities, sleepy countryside towns for much of western Europe. (Scandanavia is big city only as it is Europe's suburb).

thamike:red5ish: I have lived most of my life in towns that would be classified as tourist or honeymoon destinations and I have seen this sort of thing first hand on a daily basis during the season.

Rome is having trouble with their tourists who aren't honeymooning or touring as much as fighting and puking. There is litter, then there is how the Brits treat the Spanish Steps. This law is silly, but not because it's draconian. It's silly because, much like the no littering/vandalism laws, it is barely enforceable just from the sheer numbers of overwhelming douchebags.

When faced with overwhelming douchebaggery it may be time to be draconian. I understand that vandalism in Singapore is almost non-existent. :)

I am not against laws proscribing people from acting like pigs. I am just pointing out that they are selling tourists food and beverages then ticketing them for eating and drinking. They have, in effect, turned their plazas into lunch courts and are simultaneously trying to keep people from eating there. "We want your money but get the fark out" in essence. If they are selling food and drink, not posting the laws, then ticketing people for eating and drinking then the douchebags are the Italians doing this.

I live and work in Vacationland. Some of our visitors do have a huge sense of entitlement. Van pulls up, family gets out, walks across a parking lot into the back yard of a private home, and unpack as tho they are at a National Park.. which by the way, is 4 miles up the road. When asked to leave, the vacationing picnic table squatters got mouthy and angrily packed up and left.And this is not a property that could be mistaken for a park. This is a house, with a shed, garage, driveway etc.. in a neighborhood.

santadog:I live and work in Vacationland. Some of our visitors do have a huge sense of entitlement. Van pulls up, family gets out, walks across a parking lot into the back yard of a private home, and unpack as tho they are at a National Park.. which by the way, is 4 miles up the road. When asked to leave, the vacationing picnic table squatters got mouthy and angrily packed up and left.And this is not a property that could be mistaken for a park. This is a house, with a shed, garage, driveway etc.. in a neighborhood.

Depending on what state you are in, sounds like a good time to call upon "Castle doctrine". ;)

I live in a seriously touristic area. It's okay because the officials have a lid on things. The price of everything stays the same - expensive as hell.Well that and there really isn't much to do here but historical stuff (usually means kids) Yachting (not the same as boating - more $$$) Sailing (owners say it's "different" - we just call it too cheap to buy fuel or tip) and of course sex.

"It's nice to see 'em come and it's nice to see 'em go"

By tourist season everyone's tired of everyone else and fresh faces are nice. By the time the leaves are gone everyone's pretty tired of the whining about prices, lack of accommodations, roads, weather, their bad manners and snotty kids, you name it.

All in all, it's not bad. It's not paradise but then again who would live there?